Prerequisites: BLOCKED CLASS. EVERYONE MUST JOIN WAITLIST TO BE ADMITTED Broad survey of psychological science including: sensation and perception; learning, memory, intelligence, language, and cognition; emotions and motivation; development, personality, health and illness, and social behavior. Discusses relations between the brain, behavior, and experience. Emphasizes science as a process of discovering both new ideas and new empirical results. PSYC UN1001 serves as a prerequisite for further psychology courses and should be completed by the sophomore year.
Prerequisites: PSYC UN1001 and a statistics course (PSYC UN1610 or the equivalent), or the instructor's permission. Corequisites: PSYC UN1421 Introduction to the techniques of research employed in the study of human behavior. Students gain experience in the conduct of research, including design of simple experiments, observation and measurement techniques, and the analysis of behavioral data.
Corequisites:
PSYC UN1420
Corequisites:
PSYC UN1420
An introduction to research methods employed in the study of human social cognition and emotion. Students gain experience in the design and conduct of research, including ethical issues, observation and measurement techniques, interpretation of data, and preparation of written and oral reports.
An introduction to research methods employed in the study of human social cognition and emotion. Students gain experience in the design and conduct of research, including ethical issues, observation and measurement techniques, interpretation of data, and preparation of written and oral reports.
An introduction to research methods employed in the study of human social cognition and emotion. Students gain experience in the design and conduct of research, including ethical issues, observation and measurement techniques, interpretation of data, and preparation of written and oral reports.
Prerequisites: PSYC UN1001 or PSYC UN1010 Recommended preparation: one course in behavioral science and knowledge of high school algebra. Corequisites: PSYC UN1611 Introduction to statistics that concentrates on problems from the behavioral sciences.
Corequisites: PSYC UN1610 Required lab section for PSYC UN1610.
Corequisites: PSYC UN1610 Required lab section for PSYC UN1610.
An introduction to basic concepts in cognitive psychology. Topics include theories and
phenomena in areas such as attention, memory, concepts and categories, language, reasoning,
decision making, and consciousness.
Prerequisites: PSYC UN1001 or PSYC UN1010 or the instructors permission. Memory, attention, and stress in human cognition.
Prerequisites: PSYC UN1001 or PSYC UN1010 or the equivalent. Introduction to the scientific study of human development, with an emphasis on psychobiological processes underlying perceptual, cognitive, and emotional development.
Prerequisites: PSYC UN1001 or equivalent introductory course in Psychology This course provides an in-depth survey of data and models of a wide variety of human cognitive functions. Drawing on behavioral, neuropsychological, and neuroimaging research, the course explores the neural mechanisms underlying complex cognitive processes, such as perception, memory, and decision making. Importantly, the course examines the logic and assumptions that permit us to interpret brain activity in psychological terms.
This course will provide a broad overview of the field of social neuroscience. We will consider how social processes are implemented at the neural level, but also how neural mechanisms help give rise to social phenomena and cultural experiences. Many believe that the large expansion of the human brain evolved due to the complex demands of dealing with social others—competing or cooperating with them, deceiving or empathizing with them, understanding or misjudging them. What kind of “social brain” has this evolutionary past left us with? In this course, we will review core principles, theories, and methods guiding social neuroscience, as well as research examining the brain basis of processes such as theory of mind, emotion, stereotyping, social group identity, empathy, judging faces and bodies, morality, decision-making, the impact of culture and development, among others. Overall, this course will introduce students to the field of social neuroscience and its multi-level approach to understanding the brain in its social context.
Prerequisites: PSYC W1001 or PSYC W1010, or the equivalent. The effects of psychoactive drugs on the brain and behavior.
Prerequisites: An introductory psychology course. Examines definitions, theories, and treatments of abnormal behavior.
Many of us know a second language. How we use it varies – some use it occasionally, others routinely. Recent research in cognitive neuroscience has shed light on the mechanisms associated with the various types of bilingualism, and has shown that using two languages affects a variety of cognitive abilities, starting in infancy and continuing until an old age. The primary findings of recent research in cognitive neuroscience are reviewed and discussed in this course. Bilingualism also has a political facet – governments decide what languages are used in public institutions and taught in schools. This course also evaluates scientific findings on bilingualism for their potential implications on informing parents, educators, and policy makers.
Prerequisites: PSYC UN1001, and the instructors permission.
A systematic review of the evolution language covering the theory of evolution, conditioning theory, animal communication, ape language experiments, infant cognition, preverbal antecedents of language and contemporary theories of language.
Working memory is our ability to retain information in mind in the absence of sensory stimuli. In this course we will gain a more thorough understanding of what working memory is and how the brain supports it.
This seminar will provide a broad survey of how principles of cognition are represented
in music and the ways music has been used to study those principles in the psychology
and neuroscience literature.
The aim of this course is to examine the biological bases of individual differences in behavior. We will start by examining how individual differences in behavior and health are shaped by gene-environment interactions. We will complement these studies with the endophenotype approach and discuss its role in our contemporary views of complex disorders. We will then introduce behavioral epigenetics studies that are suggested to mediate the effects of gene-environment interactions at different levels of analysis. We will continue by discussing how these topics shape and are shaped by developmental programming. We will end the semester by discussing the major debates around these topics as well as their implications in real life and public policies. By covering these topics, students are expected to gain a better understanding of how our behavior is i) formed and shaped by gene-environment interactions over time, ii) influenced by the underlying physiological and epigenetic mechanisms, and iii) changed by developmental processes. With this information, the students are expected to view individual differences in behavior in a perspective that is highly interdisciplinary and dynamic.
Prerequisites: (PSYC UN1001) Instructor permission required. A seminar for advanced undergraduate students exploring different areas of clinical psychology. This course will provide you with a broad overview of the endeavors of clinical psychology, as well as discussion of its current social context, goals, and limitations.
The seminar component of the Psych/Neuro Senior Thesis Advanced Research program. Students admitted to the research program should plan to take this seminar in the spring of their junior year and in the fall and spring semesters of their senior year. Students are expected to be working in a lab as part of their participation in this program. In addition to supporting students throughout their independent research project, this seminar will introduce students to some of the big questions in the field through its connection with the Psychology Department Colloquium and will train students in reading and evaluating scientific research and communicating their own research findings.
1-4 points. May be repeated for credit. Prerequisites: the instructors permission. Except by special permission of the director of undergraduate studies, no more than 4 points of individual research may be taken in any one term. This includes both PSYC UN3950 and PSYC UN3920. No more than 8 points ofPSYC UN3950 may be applied toward the psychology major, and no more than 4 points toward the concentration. Readings, special laboratory projects, reports, and special seminars on contemporary issues in psychological research and theory.
1-4 points. May be repeated for credit. Prerequisites: the instructors permission. Except by special permission of the director of undergraduate studies, no more than 4 points of individual research may be taken in any one term. This includes both PSYC UN3950 and PSYC UN3920. No more than 8 points ofPSYC UN3950 may be applied toward the psychology major, and no more than 4 points toward the concentration. Readings, special laboratory projects, reports, and special seminars on contemporary issues in psychological research and theory.
1-4 points. May be repeated for credit. Prerequisites: the instructors permission. Except by special permission of the director of undergraduate studies, no more than 4 points of individual research may be taken in any one term. This includes both PSYC UN3950 and PSYC UN3920. No more than 8 points ofPSYC UN3950 may be applied toward the psychology major, and no more than 4 points toward the concentration. Readings, special laboratory projects, reports, and special seminars on contemporary issues in psychological research and theory.
What are the agents of developmental change in human childhood? How has the scientific community graduated from nature versus nurture, to nature
and
nurture? This course offers students an in-depth analysis of the fundamental theories in the study of cognitive and social development.
Prerequisites: (PSYC UN1010 or Equivalent introductory course in neuroscience or cognitive psychology This seminar will provide a broad survey of how narrative stories, films, and performances have been used as tools to study cognition in psychology and neuroscience.
Prerequisites: PSYC UN1001 and Preferably, an additional course in psychology, focusing on cognition, development, or research methods. Instructor permission required. This seminar explores the relationship between language and thought by investigating how language is mentally represented and processed; how various aspects of language interact with each other; and how language interacts with other aspects of cognition including perception, concepts, world knowledge, and memory. Students will examine how empirical data at the linguistic, psychological, and neuroscientific levels can bear on some of the biggest questions in the philosophy of mind and language and in psychology.
Prerequisites: PSYC UN1001 or equivalent introductory psychology course What is curiosity and how do we study it? How does curiosity facilitate learning? This course will explore the various conceptual and methodological approaches to studying curiosity and curiosity-driven learning, including animal and human studies of brain and behavior.
This seminar provides an overview of the mechanisms and behaviors associated with neural plasticity. Students will obtain a basic working knowledge of the different types of neural plasticity, and how these affect cognition and behaviors.
This course will provide an overview of the field of parental and social biology, with an emphasis on changes in the adult rodent brain surrounding childbirth and caretaking behavior. We will explore how the experience of parenthood prepares the brain for survival of offspring. We will also discuss the dynamic between caregivers and parents in order to provide the structure necessary to rear young. This course will illustrate the fortitude of molecular, behavioral and circuit level investigations in concert to unveil mechanisms of social learning.
Prerequisites: basic background in neurobiology (for instance PSYC UN1010, UN2450, UN2460, UN2480, and GU4499) and the instructors permission. This course will provide an overview of the field of epigenetics, with an emphasis on epigenetic phenomena related to neurodevelopment, behavior and mental disorders. We will explore how epigenetic mechanisms can be mediators of environmental exposures and, as such, contribute to psychopathology throughout the life course. We will also discuss the implications of behavioral epigenetic research for the development of substantially novel pharmacotherapeutic approaches and preventive measures in psychiatry.
Prerequisites: Two courses in psychology, including at least one course with a focus on research methods
and/or statistics, and permission of the instructor.
Review of theories and empirical research related to religious cognition and behavior. Topics include the
foundations of religious belief and practice, people's concepts of religious ideas, and the lack of religious
belief/identity (e.g., atheism), among others.
Prerequisites: Two courses in psychology, with at least one focusing on statistics and/or research methods in psychology, and permission of the instructor. Review of basic psychological research that is relevant to questions people frequently encounter during the course of everyday life. Potential topics for this seminar include research on decision-making, emotion, and/or interpersonal relationships.
This seminar will survey historical and modern developments in machine intelligence from fields such as psychology, neuroscience, and computer science, and from approaches such as cybernetics, artificial intelligence, machine learning, robotics, connectionism, neural networks, and deep learning. The emphasis is on the conceptual understanding of topics. The course does not include, nor require a background in, computer programming and statistics. The overall goal is for students to become informed consumers of applications of artificial intelligence.
Corequisites: additional lab statistical exercises. Methods of data analysis and mathematical modeling illustrated with examples from psychological research.
This seminar will introduce both the concepts and practical implementation in PyTorch of neural networks and deep learning, with a focus on general principles and examples from vision.
Practical and theoretical issues relating to the teaching of psychology and the psychology of teaching.
Prerequisites: permission of the faculty member who will direct the teaching. Participation in ongoing teaching.
Prerequisites: permission of the departmental adviser to Graduate Studies.
Monday seminars are open to the public and take place in Schermerhorn Hall on alternate Mondays in room 200B Schermerhorn from 12:10-1:30pm. The seminar series semester schedule can be found
here
.
Members of the staff, graduate students, and outside speakers present current research.